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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. track — to keep track
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. cell — a phone
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. last — final
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. file — a line of people
  12. rash — a series
  13. wind — moving air
  14. prune — to trim
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. file — a tool
  19. track — a song
  20. track — a path
  21. last — finally
  22. file — a document
  23. cell — in biology
  24. last — to go on

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com